Each year, computers are becoming more prevalently used in society, and a greater amount of information is being stored electronically via utilization of these computers. This electronic information needs to be protected. To safeguard electronic information, data is oftentimes copied to create a second version, or backup, of an original source. The data typically copied during a backup can be stored program code, data associated with a program, or a combination thereof. The backup can be stored on a hard disk, large capacity magnetic tape storage, optical disk media (e.g., CD-R, DVD-R, . . . ), or any type of storage media. The backup can be utilized to restore data, for example, in the case of damage or loss of a hard disk, corruption of data, etc. For instance, the backup can be restored to revert back to a previous version of data associated with the original source from a current version of the data that is corrupt.
When a backup of data of an original source has started, there can be occasions where the backup cannot proceed to completion. For instance, resources utilized for the backup can be necessary for a disparate application (e.g., CD-R drive is required to play a music CD, . . . ), there can be a lack of media on which to store the backup (e.g., exhaust available blank CD-R media, . . . ), or there can be a lack of space on a staging area. Currently, a number of storage products do not support resuming backups once stopped or paused. Additionally, in the case of a file system, conventional techniques resume a backup by attempting to compare contents of the backup with contents of the original source. Thus, for example, if a backup is being stored on CD(s), the CD(s) on which data was previously copied prior to the pause must be evaluated to identify data from the original source that has not been backed up and thereafter copy the identified data to available space on the same or disparate CD(s). Such a technique, however, is slow and requires all previous backed up portions to be available. Thus, a backup of a file system and/or items within the file system currently cannot be efficiently paused.